The Road to Roswell - by Connie Willis (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

A delightful novel about alien invasions, conspiracies, and the incredibly silly things people are willing to believe--some of which may actually be true--from the Nebula and Hugo award-winning author of Blackout and All Clear

"An absolute blast with abundant humor, copious references to old westerns, and . . . a delightful, intergalactic twist on the romantic comedy."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)

A WALL STREET JOURNAL BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR - LOCUS AWARD FINALIST

When level-headed Francie arrives in Roswell, New Mexico, for her college roommate's UFO-themed wedding--complete with a true-believer bridegroom--she can't help but roll her eyes at all the wide-eyed talk of aliens, which obviously don't exist. Imagine her surprise, then, when she is abducted by one.

Odder still, her abductor is far from what the popular media have led her to expect, with a body like a tumbleweed and a mass of lightning-fast tentacles. Nor is Francie the only victim of the alien's abduction spree. Before long, he has acquired a charming con man named Wade, a sweet little old lady with a casino addiction, a retiree with a huge RV and a love for old Westerns, and a UFO-chasing nutjob who is thoroughly convinced the alien intends to probe them and/or take over the planet.

But the more Francie gets to know the alien, the more convinced she becomes that he's not an invader. That he's in trouble and she has to help him. Only she doesn't know how--or even what the trouble is.

Part alien-abduction adventure, part road trip saga, part romantic comedy, The Road to Roswell is packed full of Men in Black, Elvis impersonators, tourist traps, rattlesnakes, chemtrails, and Close Encounters of the Third, Fourth, and Fifth kind. Can Francie, stuck in a neon green bridesmaid's dress, save the world--and still make it back for the wedding?

Review Quotes

Paise for Connie Willis

"A novelist who can plot like Agatha Christie and whose books possess a bounce and stylishness that Preston Sturges might envy."--The Washington Post

"One of America's finest writers . . . Willis can tell a story so packed with thrills, comedy, drama and a bit of red herring that the result is apt to satisfy the most discriminating, and hungry, reader."--The Denver Post

"A wit with a common touch who's read more great books, and makes better use of them in her work, than two or three lit professors put together."--Newsday

"A national treasure."--San Antonio Express-News

"Willis can tell a story like no other. . . . One of her specialties is sparkling, rapid-fire dialogue; another, suspenseful plotting; and yet another, dramatic scenes so fierce that they burn like after-images in the reader's memory."--The Village Voice

"Willis's fiction is one of the most intelligent delights of our genre."--Locus

"[Willis's] six Nebula Awards and ten Hugo Awards confirm her eminence in speculative fiction, but her versatile range and forthright wit wouldn't be out of place in the literary mainstream."--Publishers Weekly

About the Author

Connie Willis is a member of the Science Fiction Hall of Fame and a Grand Master of the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America. She has received seven Nebula awards and eleven Hugo awards for her fiction; Blackout and All Clear--a novel in two parts--and Doomsday Book won both. Her other works include Crosstalk, Passage, To Say Nothing of the Dog, Lincoln's Dreams, Bellwether, Impossible Things, Terra Incognita, The Best of Connie Willis, and A Lot Like Christmas. Willis lives with her family, a bulldog, and a cat in Colorado. She has visited Roswell a number of times but has never seen a single alien, except on T-shirts, mugs, bumper stickers, magnets, and cookie jars. Connie Willis is currently working on a new Oxford historians time-travel novel set at Tintern Abbey, Westminster Bridge, and Oxford.